The person who spread the rumor has now been arrested by the police and has been sent to a mental hospital for treatment.
The explosion at the hotel was far less serious than the outside world had reported. Because there were not many guests in the hotel at the time of the incident, and the explosion occurred near the top floor, only about twenty hotel staff members were killed or injured, and no important guests were injured or killed.
There's no way any media reporter would believe the official response. So, in recent days, reporters from major media outlets around the world have flocked to Washington, tirelessly searching for clues near the Washington Hotel, which is currently under repair.
The US government would naturally not allow such a thing to be exposed by the media. Otherwise, once the Washington Hotel bombing was revealed, the destruction of the military base might also be exposed, and then the US military would lose all face.
The poor president had lost over ten kilograms in the past few days. After finally dealing with a group of reporters, he had just sat down in his office when the FBI agent he had sent to investigate the Watston Hotel bombing came to give him a report.
Although he knew perfectly well that the explosion was caused by Zhou Ziwei and his group, he was not entirely clear on the details.
Because Zhou Ziwei controlled the launch rights of those thirteen nuclear missiles, the entire M country government was plunged into a major crisis. Subsequently, under the threat of this deadly figure, the M country government was forced by Zhou Ziwei to engage in a series of economic and trade cooperation with China. Behind this cooperation, however, lay humiliating and unequal treaties.
Since its founding, the M country government has always presented itself as the dominant power on the international stage, imposing unequal treaties on others while never accepting unequal treaties from others...
Now, forced by circumstances, the government has not come up with any good solutions after several discussions. Apart from yielding to the other side, there seems to be no better way. If they simply resist with hardline measures, it will definitely not work. Thirteen nuclear weapons could instantly set back the economy of half of the United States by decades, and even plunge the entire country into extreme panic and turmoil.
If the turmoil intensifies, and some people with ulterior motives fan the flames... it's not impossible that the United States could follow in the footsteps of the Soviet Union and even disintegrate as a federation.
Some people have suggested that since the other side dares to threaten us with nuclear weapons, why can't we threaten them with nuclear weapons in return? You know, the world has a huge stockpile of nuclear weapons. It's enough to drop a few on every major country in the world, let alone just China.
However, it is obvious that this is not feasible. Zhou Ziwei used the very nuclear weapons that the US government was using to threaten the US government. These weapons would be launched from US territory and then dropped into US cities.
In this way, even if others know that it is foreigners who are behind this, they cannot do anything to them if they cannot obtain real evidence. And if the United States wants to use its other nuclear weapons reserves to openly threaten the Chinese government, it will inevitably be condemned by the whole world.
Besides... it's shameful enough to talk about this. Their own country spent countless hours, money, and manpower developing nuclear weapons, only to have them become weapons used against them. What's the difference between that and shooting themselves in the foot? Once the truth gets out, the image of the US as the so-called world policeman on the world stage will be completely destroyed, and it will become a laughing stock for the whole world.
Such consequences were clearly beyond the reach of the M country government, so they dared not gamble. Even if they suffered some economic losses and lost face in secret, they could only helplessly endure it.
As for the consequences of losing face and suffering losses... well, the esteemed President should bear the full responsibility. After all, he was so careless as to have his nuclear weapons launch program controlled by someone else.
The president will definitely have to take the blame, but how exactly he will do so... we'll have to wait until this matter is settled before we can discuss that. After all, we're still facing the issue of an unequal treaty, and at such a sensitive time, no one is willing to take the president's place.
So the poor president, though he knows his time as head of state is up and he hasn't officially resigned yet, no longer holds the authority he once had in politics.
But he could only do his job as a monk and ring the bell every day, trying his best to be a good president during this last period, so that he wouldn't look too bad when he stepped down.
Of course, the president never gave up on a desperate counterattack, so his confidants were closely monitoring Zhou Ziwei and his group's every move. He also had a hundred computer experts recruited from all over the world to see if they could regain control of the thirteen nuclear weapons.
However, the result was obviously not very optimistic. Xiao Xin is the smartest and most intelligent artificial intelligence in history. In fact, although Xiao Xin can be considered an electronic life, because he was given life by Zhou Ziwei's soul power, he is fundamentally different from artificial intelligence in the normal sense. His soul is as full of spirituality as that of humans, but his computing speed and intelligence level are much higher than that of a mainframe computer. After spending this period of time in the network world and learning from a massive amount of information, Xiao Xin has now grown to a height that even Zhou Ziwei could not imagine.
In fact, Shin-chan's main soul has now basically attached itself to the computer network that covers the whole world. Even if someone destroys Shin-chan's current physical body, they can't make Shin-chan disappear.
In theory, unless someone can tear the entire global internet apart, or another being with even greater intelligence than Shin-chan appears in the network and devours him, Shin-chan is practically an immortal being.
Hundreds of people, who claimed to be computer geniuses, hacker kings, or IT gods, were exhausted and in a sorry state when faced with the traps and virus blockades that Xiaoxin left on the president's nuclear weapon launch program package. They were completely helpless.
As for the iron ball-shaped container that Shin-chan left behind when he was brought here, it is now quietly placed in front of the computer experts, but the core soul inside has long since disappeared.
Even now, the president doesn't know when the artificial intelligence slipped away from here, or why the AI's body is still here, but its soul is gone.
After a thorough study of the large iron ball, a hundred computer geniuses unanimously concluded that it was indeed a highly sophisticated electronic instrument. However, given the nature of the iron ball, it had many shortcomings and could not possibly produce true electronic artificial intelligence.
However, it is a clear contradiction that these computer geniuses, while criticizing the design of the giant iron ball and expressing disdain, are powerless to address the numerous obstacles and traps it sets up in the president's nuclear weapons launch program.
Ordinary barriers and traps would be manageable, but the most dangerous thing is the self-destruct system attached to that nuclear weapon launch package.
If this self-destruct system is compromised, the program package will immediately begin its self-destruction process. The self-destruction of the launch program will trigger the countdown to the launch of nuclear weapons, and then... the United States will be completely finished. Therefore, even for geniuses, no one dares to attempt this final step of cracking unless they are 100% certain.
What this genius never expected was that... the nuclear weapon launch control program package on this laptop had already been moved by Xiaoxin. Even if these so-called geniuses finally managed to crack the entire program package after exhausting all their efforts... they would find that they had wasted their time. In the end, all they could find in that program package was a sentence left to them by Xiaoxin... a bunch of idiots.
The president initially had high hopes for this group of idiots, but after a few days, seeing that this large group of geniuses could produce almost nothing of note except for undermining each other and shirking responsibility, the president gradually began to lose hope.
He also knew that it was impossible for these people to handle an artificial intelligence, and even if they could, they would be taking a huge risk. Which of these people could guarantee that they would not trigger the self-destruct program?
Left with no other option, the president could only place his hopes on another arrangement, which was... to investigate the identities of Zhou Ziwei and his group, as well as the truth behind the inexplicable hotel explosion.
The incident happened so abruptly. The other side had just won a battle of wits, so how could this suddenly happen when they were meeting at the hotel? Clearly… the President believed this was internal strife within their ranks, a perfect opportunity to exploit…
However, after a thorough investigation, the president was horrified to discover that the devastating bombing of the Watson Hotel wasn't caused by Zhou Ziwei, but by the incredibly beautiful little girl who had impersonated him to deliver artificial intelligence and thus tricked him. This little girl had simply waved her hand, summoning a small fireball that instantly blasted three floors of the Watson Hotel to smithereens. Such power truly astounded the professional weapons experts across the United States. If they could figure out how to create this fireball and incorporate it into modern weaponry, then…
After learning about the expressions and reactions of the people involved before and after the incident, the president knew that his plan to break down the enemy's stronghold from within had failed again.
Next, the president began frantically digging into the background of the four people in the group, or perhaps he was preparing to use some underhanded and despicable means to kidnap their families and then use them to threaten them. He didn't believe Zhou Ziwei and the others would dare not compromise. If that were the case... the president was willing to go all out. At worst, everyone would just go their separate ways and die. After all, he would have no face to live after such a cowardly resignation as president.
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 651: Is This Still Earth?
The president's plans are not without merit. If he does find someone who can threaten Zhou Ziwei or Zhuihun, then... even if he can't turn the tide this time, at least he shouldn't have to agree to those unequal treaties in such a humiliating way anymore.
Soon, the president's spies found out about Soul Chaser, who was a native of the United States. However, instead of being happy, the president was terrified when he received the news.
Legend has it that the number one assassin among the world's top ten assassins is the King of Assassins, Soul Chaser. It is said that not only is Soul Chaser incredibly skilled at killing, but even the souls created after death cannot escape his clutches. They will suffer a miserable fate in his hands, wishing they were dead or worse off than alive. In short, once someone falls into the hands of this King of Assassins, they should regret ever being born! That is why he is called Soul Chaser.
This is a name that would give even God a headache. The president naturally knew that if Soul Chaser intended to kill him, then even if he fled to the ends of the earth, it would be useless. Generally speaking, the protection forces around a head of state are extremely powerful. Even the lowest-ranked assassins in the world would find it difficult to gain an advantage against those professional bodyguards.
But this Soul Chaser is an absolute exception; his hands... have already been stained with the blood of at least four heads of state.
Not only does Zhuihun have the audacity to assassinate a head of state, but he also possesses the ability to do so. As long as someone can offer a sufficient reward, there is no one in this world that Zhuihun cannot kill.
The president immediately realized that this Soul Chaser was an extremely dangerous person, and that he needed to have enough leverage before he could turn against him; otherwise, it would be tantamount to courting death!
Zhuihun had almost no family. His wife died at the hands of an enemy many years ago, and because of this... Zhuihun went on a killing spree, creating a horrific massacre, slaughtering that enemy and everyone even remotely related to him. The number of people who died at his hands that time exceeded three digits!
Zhuihun originally had a daughter, but records show that his daughter Emily died mysteriously more than ten years ago. This time, however, Zhuihun did not seem to go crazy and kill people everywhere. Instead, he guarded his daughter's grave for more than ten years until a few days ago when he suddenly appeared and followed a little boy. This boy was the Chinese boy who caused headaches for the entire United States. Also appearing with Zhuihun was that ridiculously beautiful girl, the culprit who ran into the president's office and tricked the president into losing control of thirteen nuclear weapons under the pretense of offering an artificial intelligence robot she had accidentally discovered.
What made the president even more uneasy was that this suddenly appearing invincible beauty was also named Emily, and she addressed the father and daughter of the Soul Chaser.
This inevitably leads to wild speculation: Could it be that... the Emily we see now is actually the Emily who died more than a decade ago? If they are indeed the same person, then... is the current Emily a human or a ghost?
Without a doubt, whether this father and daughter are real or not, they have no other relatives to care about, so the president has no opportunity to use underhanded tactics.
Left with no other choice, the president had to turn his attention to Zhou Ziwei and Chu Qiutang.
Of course... the most important one is Zhou Ziwei, after all, Zhou Ziwei is the key figure in this incident, while Chu Qiutang seems to be the most dispensable minor character.
It took considerable effort from the intelligence agents to confirm Zhou Ziwei's identity.
After all, when Zhou Ziwei first appeared in these people's sight, he was a five or six-year-old boy, but now, in just a few days, Zhou Ziwei has already transformed into a young man in his twenties.
This change is truly astonishing. The president already has a very rich imagination, but he still can't accept the fact that these two people are actually the same person.
Even after confirming that the two people were the same person, it was still very difficult to finally identify Zhou Ziwei. It wasn't until their top intelligence agents, who had been infiltrating China for decades, were exposed and six or seven people were arrested that Zhou Ziwei's true identity was finally revealed.
They were shocked to discover that Zhou Ziwei was actually China's richest man, and now the sole legal developer of civilian products for a classified military project. According to experts, once the project was launched, Zhou Ziwei's day as the world's richest man would be just around the corner.
The President found it hard to believe that such a wealthy person would not stay at home and enjoy his riches, but instead come to the United States to cause trouble... Isn't this just bad luck?
Once Zhou Ziwei's identity was confirmed, determining the next course of action became much easier. The president immediately spared no expense, dispatching his agents to China on a large scale and spending a fortune to hire some of the world's most famous mercenary organizations to help kidnap Zhou Ziwei's brother and wife.
The President believes that as long as these two people are in his hands, Zhou Ziwei will have no choice but to submit. Therefore, things have developed to this point, and the President is no longer willing to hold back. Let's see who wins in the end.
The president practically bankrupted himself just to afford the mercenaries, while his own agents, of course, didn't require him to pay out of his own pocket. With these two forces cooperating simultaneously, and operating in a situation where the enemy was in the open while he was in the shadows, the president had reason to be optimistic that... even kidnapping the other country's head of state wasn't impossible. Using such a formidable force to deal with two relatively weak figures... that felt like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut...
However, to the president's utter surprise... the two teams he thought would surely succeed, after marching triumphantly into China, infiltrating Dangyang City, and then, on a dark and windy night, cooperating to storm the seemingly loosely defended Zhou family compound... didn't utter a single sound of fighting from beginning to end, and then... it was all over.
The lookouts and lookouts outside kept watch until dawn, but they didn't see any of their accomplices come out alive. This chilled them to the bone, and they no longer had the courage to stay. They hurriedly fled back to the United States and reported to the president.
The president was dumbfounded... In his view, this was simply impossible... So many experts and agents, operating together under such circumstances, even if there were some hidden experts in the Zhou family compound who could subdue these infiltrators, it was absolutely impossible for them to remain completely silent from beginning to end! This was just too unbelievable...
However, the facts are the facts, and the president could not deny them. Two more days passed, and the personnel sent to monitor the Zhou family's area did not see any of the people who went in that night come out alive. On the contrary, the Zhou family members... continued to live as usual, as if the events of that night had no impact on them at all.
It was as if they knew nothing about what happened that night.
The president was unable to accept this outcome, so he decided to go all the way and sold off some of his stocks to raise money. He then hired four high-ranking assassins, who were ranked in the top teens on the world's assassin ranking list, and ordered them to kidnap one of Zhou Ziwei's relatives no matter what.
Assassins have their own rules. They generally only accept missions to kill and never do trivial things like kidnapping or attacks. The higher the status of the assassin, the more particular they are about these rules. They even believe that asking them to do such low-class things is an insult to them.
However, this time was an exception. Although the president did not appear in person, he issued the mission through a very influential figure in the political arena. Due to pressure from the government, the assassins dared not refuse. Moreover, the reward offered by the president was tempting enough. It was just a matter of kidnapping an ordinary woman, and the reward paid by the president was enough for the bounty they would have earned from killing more than a dozen super-rich people.
This time, the president placed all his hopes on the four assassins. He believed that the people from last time might not have been incompetent, but rather that there might be some terrifying secrets hidden in the Zhou family compound, and that it would be extremely dangerous to rashly break in.
So this time, I specifically instructed the four assassins to make their move only after the Zhou family women had left the Zhou family compound.
In this way, even if the Zhou family has some powerful killing moves, they won't need to use them.
However, wishes are beautiful, but reality is always so cruel. This time, the four world-renowned assassins, ranked in the teens, were very cautious and followed the president's instructions. They did not rush into the Zhou family compound, but patiently lay in ambush at a suitable location outside for a whole day and night. In the end, they saw Liu Xiaofei coming out of the Zhou family compound in a Mercedes-Benz.
Although Liu Xiaofei and Zhou Ziwei have no official status, she still has a place on this kidnapping list, ranking third among the kidnapping targets.
Because there were multiple targets to choose from for these four assassins, the bounties offered by the president varied. The first target was naturally Zhou Ziwei's legal wife, Wang Xuewei; the second was Zhou Ziwei's younger brother, Zhou Zixu; and the third was Liu Xiaofei, the current CEO of the Zhou Group. Anyone with half a brain could see that this woman was not only capable but also Zhou Ziwei's mistress, and she must hold a very important place in Zhou Ziwei's heart.
When the four assassins discovered that Liu Xiaofei was accompanied by only two unassuming-looking bodyguards, they immediately launched an attack without hesitation.
Because the Mercedes-Benz was heavily armored, and the four assassins had rushed in from abroad without having time to equip themselves with heavy weapons, they were certainly unable to launch a long-range attack. Therefore, they simply threw two large trees, each over a meter in diameter, into the middle of the road, completely blocking the Mercedes' path. This prevented them from moving forward or backward unless… they opened the car door and got out. And if that happened… with the skills of these four top assassins, capturing Liu Xiaofei alive would be as easy as taking candy from a baby. Even if they refused to get out, it wouldn't matter; one of the assassins was particularly skilled at unlocking cars, able to open a lock in under three seconds.
In short, as long as they can force that Mercedes to stop on the road, they are almost certainly doomed.
However, in the next moment, the four top assassins who were hiding in the shadows and ready to make their move at any time, as well as the intelligence agents hiding nearby, were all dumbfounded.
After discovering that the road in front and behind was blocked, the galloping carriage paused briefly before suddenly taking to the air.
The car didn't fly too high; it only reached a height of about two meters above the ground before stopping. Then, the engine started up, and two blue flames suddenly shot out from the rear of the car. The Mercedes, which was hovering in the air, was like a silver lightning bolt; it flashed by in an instant and then disappeared without a trace.
Only a few local assassins remained, their bodies frozen in place.
It must be admitted that these four assassins were quite professional. Although they were severely frightened when they attacked Liu Xiaofei, they did not give up. They then chose a suitable place to ambush her and waited for her to come to them. This time, they did not have to wait long. They saw Zhou Zixu swaggering onto the road with only two bodyguards.
Without any hesitation, the four assassins immediately activated all the traps they had set up.
This time, not only were the roads in front and behind blocked by felled trees, but a specially made large net also suddenly came down from above.
If that car also tried to fly upwards to escape, it would definitely crash directly into that big net and be wrapped up like a dumpling.
But this time, it was unclear whether the car hadn't been modified at all and lacked the ability to fly, or whether it had already seen through the four assassins' scheme. After the roads in front and behind were blocked, the car just sat there quietly, without making any further moves, as if it were ready to be slaughtered.
However, before the four assassins could jump out of their ambush and rush into the road to grab the people out of the car, four pairs of iron-like hands suddenly grabbed their necks and twisted them gently, killing them instantly.
It's pitiful that these elite assassins, ranked in the top teens in the world, were completely unaware when someone sneaked up behind them, and didn't even know how they died until their last breath.
As the four assassins were eliminated, four burly figures stepped out from the hiding place. They were none other than Yelü Huage and Yelü Xiaosu, the brothers who had shamelessly followed Zhou Ziwei, as well as A Da and A Er, whom Zhou Ziwei had subdued in Vietnam.
The Zhou family members weren't fools. Ever since the president sent a large number of people to break into the Zhou family compound, only to have them all silently killed by the large number of Kun Chong that Zhou Ziwei had arranged in advance, the Zhou family members naturally knew that someone was plotting against them.
After Liu Xiaofei was ambushed, the Zhou family naturally became even more vigilant.
They also knew that passive defense was not enough; only by taking the initiative and completely eliminating these criminals could they have an easy life.
So this time, Zhou Zixu personally took the lead, acting as bait to lure the four assassins out again. At the same time, the Yelü brothers and A'da and A'er, who had been trained by Zhou Ziwei and had their bodies refined by the Water of Reincarnation, also came out of the cave and found the location of the four assassins. However, they did not make a move first. It wasn't until they started to plot against Zhou Zixu's car that the four of them suddenly attacked, killing all four of them in one fell swoop.
Yelü Huage and his group had already noticed several other suspicious figures observing not far away. However, instead of eliminating them, Yelü Huage loudly warned, "My master has said... this is your last chance. He has barely forgiven your ignorance. If... you dare to act recklessly again, your country will immediately be plunged into a devastating disaster. Please do not challenge my master's tolerance again, otherwise... you will bear the consequences!"
After Yelü Huage and the others finished speaking, they did not linger. Suddenly, a blue light appeared behind each of them, and the four of them flew away into the air, like dragons flying into the sky.
The men sent by the president to keep watch all stared blankly, their legs trembling. Some were so frightened that they rolled their eyes back and fainted.